He Kao specifically greeted President E, saying there was something at home. It's not that the unit needs to work overtime this weekend, but the unit often works overtime as a habit, and he's preemptively preventing it.
He called a ride-hailing car, and it took him nearly an hour to get from Sesame Apartment to Pugang Town. The journey was pretty smooth.
Actually, the commute from Pugang Town to his current workplace is only thirty kilometers. In the top-tier cities of Eastern Country, this is just some people's daily commuting distance.
The capital city of Jianghai Province, Qi Yuan City, barely counts as a quasi-first-tier city in Eastern Country. Jiangbei District, where Pugang Town is located, is also a district of Qi Yuan City, but this thirty-kilometer distance feels very remote.
This journey starts from the most bustling city center, passes through the urban area, crosses a Great River, and finally reaches the "urban-rural junction." In the traditional local perception of Qi Yuan, crossing the river means entering the countryside.
If He Kao lived in the old house, on a good day he would ride an electric scooter to work, taking more than an hour on the road. If the weather was bad and he had to drive or call a taxi, the time would be indeterminate, ranging from forty minutes to two hours one way due to traffic.
In principle, He Kao could commute like this too, but as long as conditions allow, why suffer unnecessarily? Being able to endure hardship is one thing, but not deliberately seeking out hardship is a form of self-protection.
Thirty kilometers isn't really far, but why has he only returned three times in the six months since starting work, with the most recent being two months ago? He Kao couldn't quite explain it himself.
The roads in the town are well-built, and as He Kao got off at his doorstep, there were already two people waiting for him—his eldest uncle He Changshan and the local police station head He Changqing.
The district's security department didn't send anyone, instead entrusting the local police station to handle the aftermath. He Changqing, a first cousin of He Changshan, didn't show up in the last police action, but he's here now to clean up the mess.
What's the name of uncle's cousin? There's no agreed-upon address, so He Kao usually calls him Uncle Changqing.
Uncle Changqing cleaned the yellow tape with black stripes off the courtyard gate, then opened the temporary police lock, exchanged some grouchy words with his cousin, consoled He Kao a bit, and asked if he needed any further help.
He Kao replied that he wouldn't dare trouble them, opened his backpack to take out the new lock he brought, and handed the receipt to his uncle, totaling fifteen hundred yuan.
Two locks were damaged, one on the gate and one on the house door. The expensive one was the lock for the house's security door; not counting installation fees, the new lock alone cost thirteen hundred.
He Changqing didn't want to stay longer, so he left in a hurry after greeting them briefly. Uncle also asked if He Kao needed assistance, but he shook his head and said no, not mentioning that He Shan had come to look for him the day before.
Uncle hesitated a few times, told He Kao to come to eat at home after finishing, sighed, and left, handing over another five hundred yuan to him, since he only transferred a thousand last time.
He Kao watched his uncle's back and sighed too; he really didn't want to curse, he couldn't even bring himself to do it.
Why is it that grandfather, father, and aunt all have the surname Zhou, yet He Kao's surname is He? He happens to share a surname with his uncle, and this story is rather complicated.
When the Zhou family ancestors migrated here is untraceable, but in the known years, the family generations worked as carpenters, from great-grandfather to grandfather. By the time of father Zhou Du, he went to school.
Zhou Du didn't go to college, not even high school, not because of poor grades, but because he went to a technical secondary school after junior high, which was then called junior vocational school.
Junior vocational school was somewhat like today's technical schools, but back then junior vocational schools were much better; the state would even assign jobs after graduation, and only students with excellent grades could get in.
After graduation, Zhou Du was assigned to a state-owned construction company, worked for two years, then struck out on his own, riding the tide to organize a construction team, then formed a company.
The company's business primarily divided into two areas: firstly, undertaking construction projects—Zhou Du also being equivalent to what people call a contractor—and later developing a renovation business.
While Zhou Du's education level wasn't high, he was smart and eager to learn. He was capable not only in leading teams in construction but also in doing his own design, from architectural to decorative design.
In this line of work, aside from business skill, another crucial ability is the timely acquisition of project funds.
Zhou Du didn't have much background, but he could always manage to get the project funds on time, at least never having to delay payments to workers, ensuring a good reputation and connections, so people were willing to work with him.
Despite being such a person, twenty years ago he inexplicably ran into trouble. Back then, He Kao didn't know what kind of trouble his father exactly got into; he only knew his father fell ill and passed away.
After his father's death, there was a dispute within the family surrounding He Kao's custody. It was said that grandmother proposed He Kao be adopted by the eldest aunt's family, which is somewhat unusual according to traditional views.
Grandpa from the Zhou family had three children: eldest aunt Zhou Yan, father Zhou Du, and third uncle Zhou Feng. Third uncle went to study outside, stayed for work after graduation, and has settled with a family in the north.
Adoption usually occurs within the family, like adopting by uncles or cousins, rarely to aunt's families. Why grandmother would think this way was primarily because the eldest aunt's family didn't have a son, only He Shan as a daughter.
Moreover, there's another reason that's not publicly mentioned: reportedly, Zhou Du left behind a large sum of money after his death, which is, of course, meant for his son, and whoever becomes He Kao's guardian would have the authority to use it.